Winter is more about routine and the comfort of everyday life, and spring and fall are about the transitions in life (school, weather, sports, etc.)

Summer is the season that holds the most magic as it has the potential for the most memories.

When I was a kid, we spent summers with my cousins, near the water. We were either in Vancouver, where they lived, or by a lake somewhere in B.C.

I learned to do a somersault off a dock, learned how not to waterski (make sure you let go of the rope when you fall), and I made clay and sand sculptures on the beach.

My cousins and I discovered the flattened frogs in the Kootenays the years we stayed on Kootenay Lake. When I was five years old, I saw a muskrat my first time while I was in a canoe, and a foal being born the summer we spent near Canom Lake in Cariboo Country.

Our family dog learned how to swim when she wandered off a sinking dock that summer, too.

Summers in the city were plenty of fun, too. Rollerskating and popsicle-eating were favourite pastimes. We liked those frozen tubes called Freezies – remember them? They came in a psychedelic rainbow of wonderfully unnatural colours.

Second Beach in Stanley Park was the locale for more beach days and Freezies consumed than I could ever count.

Now, I work much of summer and so my first-hand exposure to the spirit of the season is limited. On our yearly getaway this week to Perrygin Lake in Washington, I was heartened to see kids fishing for craw dads, learning how to dive off the dock, and generally make their own good time.

My hubby and I floated the Methow River (something I highly recommend, despite your hind end going numb within minutes of exposure to the glacial water). We played cornhole, also known as bean bag toss or bag-o, depending on where you come from.

We saw the kids eating "otter pops" (the current version of a Freezie). Everyone had new summer memories to take home.

I am fortunate to work in situations where I see that the spirit of summer lives on. We cater pool parties full of silly antics, and family reunions with simple (non-video) games anyone can win. But I must admit it's nice to know I can still perform a respectable cannonball off a dock and roast a mean marshmallow over the campfire (even if it's propane-fueled).

There is much to be gained in retaining the spirit of childhood in the summer sun.

Please, have a s'more, dive off that dock, or at least cheer on the little people you know. If it doesn't make you remember the secret of life, try it one more time.

Kristin Peturson-Laprise is a customer experience specialist by trade, which means she is someone passionate about people having a good time.

Her company, Wow Service Mentor, helps businesses enhance their customer experience through hands-on training, service programs, and special event coordination.

Kristin enjoys her own experiences too, and that is what she writes about in this column. She and her husband Martin Laprise (also known as Chef Martin, of The Chef Instead) love to share their passion for food and entertaining.

Kristin says:

"Wikipedia lists a gourmand as a person who takes great pleasure in food. I have taken the concept of gourmandise, or enjoying something to the fullest, in all parts of my life. I love to grow and cook food, and I loved wine enough to become a Sommelier. I call a meal a success when I can convey that 'sense of place' from where the food has come . . . the French call that terroir, but I just call it the full experience. It might mean tasting the flavours of my own garden, or transporting everyone at the table to a faraway place, reminiscent of travels or dreams we have had."